


Coming Home

by Robin_Fai



Category: Endeavour (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canonical Character Death, Depressing, Endeavour as a child, Gen, Good brother Endeavour, Minor Character Death, Parental Fred Thursday, Past Character Death, Sad, yes I do need all those tags sadly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:08:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25962610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robin_Fai/pseuds/Robin_Fai
Summary: Gwen passed away before Morse's own mother. Now something has happened to Cyril too and the Morse children are alone in the cold. Endeavour will do anything to protect his little sister, but he's only a child. Enter DS Fred Thursday.Just a short and kind of sad 'what if' oneshot.
Relationships: Endeavour Morse & Fred Thursday, Endeavour Morse & Joyce Morse
Comments: 13
Kudos: 53





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> Just a warning in case the tags or summary didn't get you - this is kind of a depressing one.

The rain was a steady stream of discomfort in an already bleak day. Endeavour pulled his sister closer to his side, shifting his coat to better shelter her from the weather. All around them the police milled about like ants. They dashed between the house and their vehicles taking no notice of the two children left out in the cold. 

Endeavour tried to shake the rain from his hair. It was a futile act as it lay heavy and cloying, plastered to his scalp by now. Still, it was a distraction from the shivering that was threatening to overtake him. At his side he heard a muffled sob from Joyce. He looked down but couldn’t see her face as it was buried in his side, her arms tight around him. 

The numbness that had pervaded him ever since he had arrived home began to thaw. He needed to get Joyce out of the rain. Looking around he tried to work out which police officer would be the best to talk to. They had been told to get out of the house, but not where to go then. No one had offered them shelter in a car or anywhere else. Another car drew up and two more policemen got out, but these ones were wearing suits. Perhaps they were in charge? Perhaps he should talk to them about what would happen now?

He looked down at his feet for a breath to try and get his thoughts in order. When he looked up he found the younger of the pair staring at him. Their eyes locked and Endeavour wondered what the man was thinking. Then the officer beckoned over one of the men in uniform that had been coming and going. He couldn’t hear exactly what was said but he could tell from the tone and the body language that the man in the suit was angry. When their exchange was over the officer in a suit marched over to them. Endeavour set his shoulders and tried to stand tall. He hated that he must look small and insignificant in that moment. He needed to be strong for Joycie now.

“Hello there,” the man said, “my name’s Fred. What’s yours then?” He had a deep, warm, voice. Endeavour wanted to trust him, but that instinct warred with everything he had ever learned in life so far.

“This is Joyce.” Endeavour indicated his sister with a tilt of his head. “I’m… My name is…” The words wouldn’t come. He hated telling people his name. They invariably looked at him with pity, or mockery. He didn’t want either just at that moment. “Morse. My name is Morse.”

Fred considered him for a moment and then gave him a gentle sort of smile. Endeavour knew he didn’t believe that was his name, but it didn’t look like he was going to press the matter. He sent a silent thought of gratitude to his mother’s god, should they exist. It had been so long since he believed, but he knew she would have been pleased had she been there today.

The thought of his mother threatened to shatter the shield of ice he had drawn up around himself. She was a year gone to him and now his father… 

He was all alone in the world.

Joyce stirred in the small pocket of warmth he had created around her and peered out at the officer, Fred. 

No, he wasn’t alone. He had Joyce, and she had him. No one was going to tear them apart. 

A hand settled on his shoulder and he started. He looked up into Fred’s eyes.

“Sorry, Lad. Don’t think you heard me before. Didn’t mean to make you jump. Come on, let’s get you out of this rain.” Fred said.

“I don’t want to go back in the house.” Endeavour meant for his voice to sound confident, more grown up, but it came out small and anxious.

“No, Lad. You don’t have to go back in there. How’s about we go sit in the car? I can get the blower running again, warm it up like so your sister can get warm.”

Endeavour looked to the car and then nodded. If it had just been him he might have run. He didn’t know where to, but it was the one thought that was an echoing need in the back of his aching skull. But it wasn’t just him. He had to protect Joyce. Fred was offering him a chance to do that. He hoped that the man was as honest as he seemed.

He tried to hide the limp that slowed his progress to the car, but he was fairly certain that the sharp glance Fred had given him meant it had been noticed. He hoped he didn't ask. Surely what the boys at school did to him wouldn't really be relevant to a murder investigation. He bundled Joyce into the back of the car and then followed her in. The interior was a rich red leather and he immediately felt guilty about getting it wet. The coat was soaked through anyway, so he pulled it off and dumped it in the foot-well, then drew Joyce back in close once more.

A thought came to him of the grainy photographs of penguins huddled together that he’d seen in a book he’d read at school. He smiled down at his sister. In their school uniforms of grey, stained black by the water, and washed out white, they didn’t look all that dissimilar. This was _their_ huddle. This was _their_ safety.

The front door opened and closed, the car dipping slightly as Fred got in the front passenger seat. He twisted around and looked at the pair in the back.

“I’m sorry about your father,” Fred said. 

Once again Endeavour was struck by how different this felt to the last time. When he had found his mother he had been distraught. He had thought she was getting better, then one day he had come home and she was gone. There but not there. He had barely been able to speak through the tears. 

And now? Now he felt… nothing. He was so cold and numb. What had happened to his father had been far worse, so much more violent, and yet it didn’t feel as wrong or unjust. He hadn’t known what his father thought of him in life, and now with his death he supposed he would never know. 

“Do you think you could tell me what happened?” Fred asked. 

From the small line creasing Fred’s brow, Endeavour guessed he was probably supposed to have said something to the last. Joycie was crying quietly and looked scared. What did he look like? A drowned shadow of a boy too tall for his years. All angles and ice cold stares. The one softness about him, his red hair, was now pressed flat. Could there be anything acceptable to be seen about him?

Endeavour set those thoughts aside and cleared his throat before speaking.

“I don’t know what happened. I picked up Joyce from school and when we got home… well, it was… he was already…” He glanced to his sister, not wanting to use the word in front of her. She had already seen enough. Fred obviously understood because he gave him a nod. “I got Joycie out and then went along the road to the phone box to call for the police. They came, told us to wait outside, and then you arrived.”

“I am sorry they left you in the rain.” Fred said, and there was steel in his voice. “Someone should have put you in a car. It’s getting to be a nasty night out there.”

“I was alright, but Joycie was cold,” he said. It was a lie, but one he couldn’t help but tell. He did not want anyone’s pity.

“Of course. Strong lad like yourself. It was good of you keeping her warm and dry like that.” Fred said with a smile to Joyce. She had shied away from all the other officers but she looked to Fred with something approaching a wary trust.

“What will happen to us now?” Endeavour’s hand tightened on Joyce’s arm. He wanted to put off the question, enjoy the warmth and safety of the car, but it couldn’t last for long.

“Well, we’ll get you to a relative’s or something like.” Fred said. 

“We don’t have anyone. Our mothers are both gone, and any grandparents. We don’t have any aunts or uncles or anything. Our father had no friends, only enemies.” He spoke clearly to try and show that he didn’t feel lonely, that it wasn’t something to be sad about, but of course it was. He didn’t want them to be alone. He wished there _was_ somewhere they could go. 

The fear he didn’t want to acknowledge was that with nowhere to go they might be split up, and then he really would be all alone.

In the front seat of the car, Fred was frowning. The thoughts etched across his face were the mirror for all that Endeavour didn’t want to see. They would be sent to the social and that would be the last they would see of one another.

“Please don’t take her from me.” He found himself begging. “Please. I need to look after her. She’s my sister. She’s my only family.” The tears that ran hot down his already wet face were sudden and uncontrollable. He tried to wipe them away but they just kept falling.

“Hey now – it’ll be alright – we’ll sort something out.” Fred reached out and grasped his knee firmly. It was like an anchor in a storm. He didn’t know if it would hold fast, but it was his one hope amidst the dark that was closing in. “Let me just go speak with my guv’nor. I’ll be right back, alright?”

Endeavour nodded and turned to pull Joyce in closer to him. A blast of cold air signalled the door opening and the exit of Fred from their little sanctuary. The minutes crept by like hours. With each stroke of the hands on the clock he felt himself being pulled further from all that he had ever known, from all that he had thought was safe.

Eventually, Fred returned. This time he got in the driver’s seat. Endeavour forced himself to look up and face the inevitable.

“You’re coming home with me,” Fred said, with a nod for him, and an encouraging smile for Joyce. “My Win will have you set up, warm, and fed in no time.”

“What about tomorrow?” Endeavour couldn’t help poking at the wound he knew was still very much open.

“Tomorrow is another day. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, you’re both coming home.”

**Author's Note:**

> I need to stop it raining on poor Morse someday. That day is not today. But you know that Win will have them safe and cared for in no time and the chances of her letting anyone take them away again are pretty slim. Did I just make the Thursdays a family of six? Hell yes. I guess that's the one hesitation I've always had in the Thursdays adopt Morse scenarios - I'm loathe to give up Joyce.


End file.
